


the shadow of death overhead

by rain_sleet_snow



Category: Primeval
Genre: M/M, Post-Battle, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 09:12:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9996290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rain_sleet_snow/pseuds/rain_sleet_snow
Summary: After Leek's predators have been cleared from the ARC, Lester reflects.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fredbassett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fredbassett/gifts).



> Birthday fic for Fred, who wanted a time when the boys were in such a state they couldn’t resort to their usual pet names! Thanks to Fi for reading it over.

 

            Lester saw his partner coming in the mirror; accordingly, he did not flinch when Lyle’s hands landed on his shoulders, careful of the rip the predator had inflicted.

 

            “You’re alive,” Lyle said. His mouth was a grim, flat line, and he smelled like blood and sweat, but when he pulled Lester back against him and slid his arms around Lester’s waist his hands were gentle.

 

            Lester raised an eyebrow at Lyle in the mirror. Lyle would probably get stains on the suit and his fresh shirt, but Lester couldn’t bring himself to care, not today. “As you see me,” he said coolly, and his voice didn’t shake.

 

            Lyle let his head drop forward against Lester’s shoulder, turning his face against Lester’s neck. He let out a long breath. “Christ, James,” he said, his breath tickling Lester’s skin. “I really thought, for a bit…”

 

            “I know,” Lester said, closing his eyes. “I know, Jon, I thought so, too.”

 

            There had been little time for thinking when the predator was after him. He had barely even heard the distant screams of the few staff remaining in the ARC, hardly registered his colleagues’ blood and bodies. All that had mattered was the predator and his ability to kill it before it killed him. He still couldn’t believe he’d pulled it off - with a little assistance.

 

            “The mammoth eats apples, right?” Lyle said, voice slightly muffled, mind clearly working along the same lines.

 

            “I may need to invest in an orchard.” Lester found a weak smile. No, he’d done all his thinking after Monty’s intervention, when Lester had found himself bloody, dishevelled and curiously at a loose end for at least fifteen minutes before Leek’s warped plan had swung into stage two. He’d wondered what the hell the Minister would say to his ex-wife about his death – what Kathy would tell the children, how Liz would cope with having to move back to the house in Fulham. Whether his life insurance would pay out. What Lyle would do – always supposing, of course, that Lyle was still alive.

 

            Lyle kissed his neck, and didn’t loosen his grip on Lester. “Don’t do that to me again, James.”  
  


            “It was hardly intentional.”

 

            “I know. Don’t do it again.” Lyle’s arms tightened to the point where Lester was a little worried about his ribs, but it felt warm, it felt safe, it felt real. “Near death experiences are my job.”

 

            “You should feel free to refrain from near death experiences, too.”

 

            Lyle hummed an ambiguous response. Lester rolled his eyes, and took a certain amount of comfort from the sheer normality of that gesture. He reached back with his uninjured arm and cupped the base of Lyle’s skull gently, sliding his fingers up into his partner’s short dark hair.

 

            “I have to go back to work at some point, Jon. I just wanted to take a few moments’ break.” The immediate emergencies had been dealt with: the building was secure, the bodies had been taken away, and everyone who was in need of medical care was receiving it. Leek was dead and Helen Cutter missing. The team had been secured: Hart in surgery, clinging to life, Cutter, Abby and Connor sheltering at Abby’s flat, probably in a state of shock. Lester had lost his operations manager, but he still had Jenny, lips pressed tightly together against all the things she might have said to Cutter or his foul ex-wife, and a shaken but frighteningly competent junior administrator who Lester had promoted out of necessity. They could hold the fort for a few minutes more, but Lester had a duty to this place and these people. He would not shirk it.

 

            Lyle loosened his grip long enough to turn Lester in his arms, and then his mouth slanted over Lester’s, hot and demanding. Lyle had been afraid, Lester thought. As if the absence of a stupid pet name, or the frozen look in those hazel eyes, hadn’t clued him in.

 

            Lester leaned into the kiss, and hung on tight.  

 

            “I’ll come with you,” Lyle muttered. “Back to your office.”

 

            “I thought,” Lester said, and didn’t finish the sentence. He and Lyle had generally preferred to keep their fledgling relationship out of the office, and though they were more secure now – and the relationship was increasingly generally known – he wouldn’t have expected Lyle to choose now to be open about it.

 

            Lyle’s embrace almost crushed him. “I don’t care what anyone thinks. I’m not letting you out of my sight, not today, don’t ask me to-”

 

            His voice was almost a growl. Lester cut him off with a kiss. “I’m not,” he said. “I’m not asking you to. It’s the best idea I’ve heard all day.” He leaned his forehead against Lyle’s for another moment of peace and quiet, and then, reluctantly, stepped out of Lyle’s arms. It made him feel cold.

 

            “Come on, Jon,” he said. “Back to work.”


End file.
